


Bed Rest

by Amarissia



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 02:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amarissia/pseuds/Amarissia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud has contracted a mysterious "illness." Zack and Reno are not much help. A gift for Lilymoon1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bed Rest

"Would you look at this? The nurse brings another cup every time she comes in." 

"So?" 

"This is an infirmary, full of sick people. The last thing they need is to have junk food pushed on 'em like it's crack. Those bitches in white aren't medical practitioners, they're tools of the fuckin' snack industry." 

"Reno." Zack tried his best to look exasperated but only managed cute. "I'm not gonna argue with you about pudding." 

"Seriously, it's unhealthy. What kinda message does this send?" 

"You can talk, you drink like a fish and live on pizza." 

"Gourmet roasted-vegetable pizza." 

"Anyway, we're supposed to be making Spiky feel better." 

On the hospital bed between them, Cloud smiled. His bright eyes were tired, his hair disheveled from sleeping, and though sitting up he leaned heavily on a stack of pillows. Otherwise he showed no sign of injury, seemed his usual petite, deceptively delicate-looking self. Extreme fatigue, dizziness upon standing, muscle weakness and distraction were the main symptoms of this illness, which Nibelheim natives were particularly susceptible to, which had a complicated name only Cloud could pronounce correctly ('Nibel' followed by an intimidating string of consonants) and which Reno instead called 'sissy syndrome'. Only in jest, however. He himself was ditching duty and hiding from Tseng in order to hover here. 

"I'm fine, really," Cloud said, smiling brilliantly to cover a yawn. "You guys don't need to hang here all day, really, you must be bored." 

"Aw, you're more important than training and materia lectures." Zack flashed the heartthrob grin that few were immune to. "And more fun." 

"You say that now, Fair, but you might be singing a different tune if that hunky man-meat of a mentor finds you skipping training. Have you guys progressed to spanking yet? Choke chains, monogrammed collars? I need to know for, um, work." 

"Don't say stuff like that about Angeal," Zack ordered, just barely managing not to stutter. 

"Just admit you're fuckin' him, I won't tell. Your innocent-Class-pet-uke rep is safe with me." 

"Nothing's going on with me and - hey, why does everyone think I'm an uke?" 

Reno, perched somewhat precariously on a rolling table meant for medical instruments, gave him a lopsided grin. "Riiight. Hewley hugs you and lets you get away with anything and bores everyone to tears with pictures of ya 'cause it's good SOLDIER training. And we think you're an uke because you _are_. You couldn't top a sundae." 

Zack sprang off the edge of the bed to his feet, with a speed that might have been menacing if not for his sweetly childish pout and the bouncing that made black spikes fall into his pale eyes. Cloud looked back and forth between his closest friends with indulgence and amusement; they were a pair as interesting as they were unlikely. The only thing stranger than a Turk and a SOLDIER being good pals was both of them befriending a lowly cadet. 

"HEY, I hug _him_ , and only 'cause he's really like a big teddy bear once you get to...um...anyway, Angeal takes awesome pictures and I _resent_ that 'cause you have no idea how I would be...um..." 

"In the sack?" Reno prompted. "You can't even talk about sex without getting all shy and girly. You're not even a fully-fledged uke. I'm changing my choice in the pool, if you're not gettin' nailed by Hewley, I'm puttin' my money on ya being a virgin." 

"I am _not_! I just don't think we should talk about stuff like that in front of Cloudy, hey, what _pool_?" 

"It's okay, Zack," Cloud laughed. "I do know the facts of life." 

"Reno, you better not've been telling him stuff, or taking him to brothels." 

"He's gotta learn from someone." 

"He's joking," Cloud said quickly, before Zack could fire a retort. "Zack, I'm sixteen, not five." 

Zack slouched back against the nearest wall with a pout, crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled his insistence that the Turk was "corrupting my Spiky". 

"Really, guys - " 

"Don't be silly," Zack said merrily, having instantly recovered from his moments-earlier sullenness. "We wouldn't leave you in here alone, all bored and without us to make sure the staff are taking good care of you. Huh, now that I think about it, how come they put you here in the SOLDIER infirmary instead of the cadet one?" 

"No idea," Cloud said, blinking his innocent blue eyes. "I think it was pretty full down there, and the doctor who's handling my case spends more time up here, so..." 

"Yeah, I guess you're pretty interesting, they must not see many cases of...what is it again?" 

Cloud rattled off a series of syllables that neither the Turk nor the SOLDIER were able to repeat. Reno reclined lazily back as best as he was able on the rolling table and directed an indecipherable smile at Cloud. 

"I'd swear that babble sounds a little different each time you say it. If I didn't know you, kid, I'd think you really were faking this." 

"Hey!" Zack said indignantly, his trademark whine accompanied by his trademark pout. "Who would do that? Cadet training is tough, I remember, but anything beats being stuck in here where it's all bland and white and you're not allowed to move. When I was here, that time I fractured my tailbone, I was going so nuts the doctors had to handcuff me to the bed to keep me still." 

"Is 'fractured tailbone' code for 'torn rectum'?" Reno asked, faux-sweetly. "Either way, sounds like Hard-Ass Hewley got a little too rough, huh?" 

"Shut up, perv! It happened during training!" 

"Paper-training?" 

"If you wanna fight, that's fine," Zack said, raising his fists and finally looking slightly like the warrior he was. "Just not in front of Cloudy. And heh, don't go crying to your boss after I wipe the floor with you." 

"If you guys really need to blow off some steam, please do it elsewhere," Cloud groaned, rolling his eyes. "In fact, that's an excellent idea. You two go do that, I'll be fine by myself, really." 

Ignoring or missing the hopeful tone in that voice, Zack immediately deflated and was back to his cheerful self. He plopped none too gently onto the bed and grabbed Cloud into a tight hug, while Cloud flailed futilely. He caught Reno's attention and motioned for help, but the Turk merely smirked and shook his head. 

"See what you've done, Reno? You made Spiky think we'd rather be anywhere else but with the cuuutest little chocobo-head on the planet! Don't worry, Cloudy, I'm here to entertain you, as long as Angeal doesn't find out I'm skipping duties." 

"I'm supposed to be resting," a muffled voice said against Zack's shoulder. 

A nurse came through the half-open door just then, a middle-aged woman with a face creased by years of concerns but softened by a smile. The staff here were usually stern about enforcing the one-visitor-at-a-time rule, but she apparently had a soft spot for the sweet-faced blond cadet. She simply returned Zack's charming grin, nodded to Reno from a safe distance and placed a chocolate pudding cup on the bedside table. 

"Hah, I told you!" Reno exclaimed, making them all start. "Obesity in a convenient, tempting package! Sugar is a drug and this broad's a pusher." 

"Ignore him, ma'am, he just likes to annoy people." 

"I see. Well, I don't think there's a need for concern, you boys are all thin as twigs," the nurse tutted, and turned to Zack. "Even you, and you practically ate up the whole supply when you were here last." 

The teenager offered another lady-killer smile, having let go of Cloud only to sling an arm around him and muss his hair. Cloud didn't seem to enjoy this; he looked like a bird whose feathers were ruffled with indignation. 

"I'd offer you a cup, dear, but Commander Hewley just arrived at the front desk, and you told me to inform you if he - " 

Muttering a rude phrase in Gongagan, Zack immediately dove under the bed. 1st Class legend Angeal Hewley entered only a moment later, as though on cue, and found a confused nurse, a Turk smirking at his fingernails, and a messy-haired cadet innocently opening a pudding snack. He looked at each just long and neutrally enough to politely acknowledge their presence, then reached under the bed frame and pulled Zack out by his left ear. 

"Okay okay I'm sorry I'll train!" the boy wailed, though it was clear from the lightness of the grip and the elder's faint indulgent smile that he wasn't being hurt. "Just wanted to check on my Spiky." 

"Well, now that you have, we have an appointment with some strength training." 

"How'd you know where I was, anyway?" 

"I know _you_. Also, Sephiroth texted me. Now, come on." 

"How did _he_ know?" Zack complained as he was gently dragged out. "See you later, Spiky!" 

" _If_ you finish your exercises. Feel better, Cadet." 

"Thank you, sir. Bye, Zack." 

The nurse blushed girlishly at the respectful nod Angeal gave her, then followed the struggling pair out. Reno seemed about to say something, probably suggestive and regarding Zack, when his phone beeped, indicating a text message. He checked it, and shot Cloud a what-can-ya-do? sort of smile. 

"The boss needs me. If I can sneak past the harpies tonight, I'll bring some Wutaian sake and we'll liven this place up with a little party, you, me, and the puppy, if his master doesn't have him trussed up and gagged somewhere." 

"Weren't you just ranting about the evils of unhealthy food?" 

"Alcohol is not unhealthy, it's one of the essential food groups." Reno sprang lightly to his feet, making the table roll away behind him. "And eventually we'll break it to Zacky that you're not nearly as innocent as he thinks. You're expectin' a more prominent visitor, huh?" 

Cloud's eyes went wide and he stiffened for a moment, but then he chuckled softly. "Turks see everything, right?" 

"Yep. Later, Blondie." 

The room was perfectly still for a few seconds after the redhead left. When his footsteps faded, the closet door in the far corner slowly opened, and Cloud beamed with absolute contentment at the tall figure who stepped into the light and shook out his long hair. 

"Sorry it took so long. You know how hard Zack is to get rid of when he wants to help." 

Sephiroth smiled, swept elegantly across the room long enough lock the door, then he went directly to the bed and hummed with pleasure to be tugged insistently into a pair of thin but strong arms. 

"I don't mind. All your previous games have ended up being well worth the effort, so if you wish to play an infirmary patient, I am happy to oblige. I am also pleased that you were able to invent so convenient and convincing a fake illness." 

Cloud grinned into a long and sweet kiss, twining his fingers into the general's silky waterfall of hair. "Thank you. I couldn't very well just explain that you and I wanted an infirmary room for recreation...I don't think they're ready to know the famous Sephiroth has taken up with a lowly cadet. Hmm, maybe we should have disguised you as a doctor." 

"I don't believe you'd like my bedside manner," Sephiroth teased, letting his hands wander to the ties of Cloud's hospital gown. 

"I'd rather you _in_ the bed than beside it, true." Cloud helped to push off the black leather coat and stroked the pale skin it revealed. "How long do we have?" 

"Should any nurses inquire about the door being locked, Dr. Roberts will inform them that you are being given a private examination by a specialist. A condition such as yours requires careful attention." 

"Better give me attention, then," Cloud purred, shoving his flimsy attire onto the floor. 'What's wrong?" 

"In my haste to arrive here unnoticed, I neglected to bring lubricant. What do you suggest?" 

Cloud quirked an eyebrow and smiled invitingly. "Pudding?"


End file.
